Barbour: U.S. ports need investment, strategy policy

BILOXI — Former Gov. Haley Barbour, speaking to a regional gathering of Gulf states harbor pilots, called for a “bias for action and a sense of urgency…for increased U.S. investment in waterways infrastructure and a national strategic policy to prepare and equip U.S. ports in the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Seaboard for increased cargo and container volume from ‘post-Panamax’ vessels after the Panama Canal opens in 2015.”

As chairman of the National Maritime Policy Council, Barbour urged Congress and President Obama to focus on several goals:

• Declare port modernization and channel deepening a project of National Economic Significance, vital to U.S. global competitiveness and national security as well as set a goal to coincide with the opening of the expanded Panama Canal in 2015.

“It’s absolutely critical to our nation’s future to have our ports and waterways dredged. And we must be ready for the expected boom in business following the completion of the Panama Canal expansion project in 2015. This is good for America and Texas,” said Morris.